Do we know a lot of people nowadays who would be able to take the risk of being a prisoner for 10 or 20 years "just" to defend his beliefs?

defend 是动词，由前缀 de-（表示"向下、完全"）和词根 fend（来自拉丁语 fendere，意为"击打"）组成，字面意思是"完全击退"，引申为"保卫、捍卫"的意思。在这里指"为信仰进行辩护或保护"。